Jennifer Aniston has spent years talking about her heartbreak over losing Brad Pitt. Like, many times longer than her marriage actually lasted. But even she has to read stories in which Carl Crawford talks about how miserable he was in Boston and think “damn, he needs to let it go.”

“That was one of the toughest times in my life, ever, from when I was a little kid, 1 year old,” said Crawford. “It definitely was one of the best things that ever happened to me in my life to be traded over here … You make $20 million, but it’s not like they’re begging me to hit a home run every time I go up there, you know what I’m saying? It’s not like I need to go 5-for-5 every at-bat and, if I don’t, I’m considered the worst player on the planet … it [ticked] me off so much, the things I had said about me. I have the type of spirit that, if you say something to me, I’m going to say something back.”

I’m sure it was bad for him, but man, at some point be on the Dodgers and let the past be the past.

He’s *still* talking about it? Or is there maybe a chance that he was asked about it seeing how the Red Sox are in town this weekend. I suppose if he’d just said “No comment” you would have crapped on him for being uncooperative with the media.

It wasn’t his crap numbers he put up, it was the little things that drove me up the wall regarding his play in Boston. #1 He always looked lost at the plate, seriously. More often than not it looked like he was either praying to Buddha that he would somehow run into a base hit or he was simply guessing. #2 Stolen bases…or lack thereof. I remember he used to run a train on Boston catchers when he played for Tampa Bay then it seems he puts on a new uniform and all of a sudden he’s gun shy to take second base.

The funny thing is how Boston fans did like a 180 the moment Crawford was signed. Up till that point, it was all faithful support and encouragement for Red Sox players. Just ask guys like JD Drew and Julio Lugo!

Unfortunately that all changed in 2011. There’s NO WAY Crawford could have seen it coming!

While this is definitely going overboard, I will say, I live in Fort Myers, spring training home of the Red Sox. I used to tend bar, and I cannot even estimate how many times Crawford was referred to as “the n…” or “Theo’s Little N…” I even had two different patrons, on different occasions, explain to me that David Ortiz is not an N because he didn’t, in one mans words “grow up in a ghetto,” and in the other mans words “come from garbage.”

Obviously that’s just anecdotal, but its my experience. People say Florida isn’t the South, but where I come from, only trailer trash talk like that. These people were well enough off that they could spend their springs on baseball vacations.

So Boston expected him to go 5-5 every night? Was that what the I-pad given to them by Boras said? I wouldn’t doubt Boras would do that actually. The thing probably self destructed like an “Inspector Gadget” message as soon as the contract ink was dry.

And for superstar money, he gave Boston 161 games in two years with a negative defensive WAR and an offensive WAR below 1. 5 for 5? How about being above average Carl? He was absolutely horrible in Boston and then he capped it off by misplaying a ball that helped cost Boston the last game of the season in their 2011 collapse. Boston had to give away Adrian Gonzalez just to unload Crawford’s terrible contract (and Beckett’s). So it was a “business decision” to leave Tampa Bay, but it’s “personal” when he doesn’t live up to the contract in Boston?

And leave it to the blogging world (I’ll be kind and not single out any individual) and the current state of sports talk radio to turn professional sports – and specifically the lives of professional athletes – into the vapid equivalent of Brangelina tabloid fodder, or something you’d read on TMZ right after Kardashian’s baby.

It sounds less like Crawford was volunteering that information for cathartic purposes and, rather, was asked a specific question by a media who’s job it is to ask questions about virtually anything.

Arod, Braun and PEDs – you know, Craig,… maybe you just should let it go.

“In case anyone missed it before, let me just say I was grateful for the chance to play there. There’s a lot of good guys in that clubhouse, just like there are in Tampa. I miss them, too.”

“It’s disappointing I didn’t perform better. Injuries had something to do with it, but I just didn’t play well and fans will never tolerate any kind of excuses.”

“I’m with the Dodgers now, and I’m excited about what we’re trying to accomplish here. Y’know, I’m just happy to be here and hope I can help the ballclub. I just want to give it my best shot and good Lord willing, things’ll work out… gotta play ‘em one day at a time.”

People in the public eye have to answer the same questions again and again. It’s part of the job.

I think he’s obligated to answer, even if he’s tired of saying it. But by giving a non-boring answer, he’s only going to bring more attention and more questions he doesn’t want to answer. This doesn’t seem complicated, and I’m surprised that a player who has been around the game as long as Carl Crawford has doesn’t understand it. It’s probably because, playing in Tampa, no one bothered him with tough nor easy questions because it was a smaller market for baseball.

churchoftheperpetuallyoutraged - Aug 23, 2013 at 12:22 PM

ask him the same fucking question he has been asked by every dumb ass writer he has met?

How about expecting the billionaire owners and their ‘talented’ player-evaluation staff to make good decisions taking into account the risks of players having ups and downs, sometimes not adjusting to a new environment, or maybe just aging? Those are the guys to blame. I’m a Yankee and Giant fan so believe me I have experience in just letting some of those go (i.e. length of second A-rod contract and length/size of Barry Zito’s contract.)

Some players just can’t hang here in Boston aka crumble under pressure in a city that truly loves its hometown teams. Carl is one of those players. We’re more than happy to have the team that we have on the field now and Crawford isn’t even an afterthought anymore. We let him go and moved on. Time for him to do the same thing.

Dude just shut up already. What a baby. What did you think came with signing a 142,000,000 contract in one of the biggest sports markets? I supported Crawford when he was here, but he’s such a baby. And no we weren’t mad because you didn’t go 5 for 5 every game. It has more to do with your dramatic drop in production because you cannot handle the heat in Boston.

2010 (TB): .307/.356/.495/.851
2011 (BOS): .255/.289/.405/.694

I never held injuries against this guy but it is clear, his mind couldn’t handle Boston and he would have struggled there at all costs. Oh and you stole 18 bases after stealing 47 the year before. So go play in LA and stfu about Boston, we’re moved past your short stint here, time for you to do the same.

Any time a black player has a bad time in Boston it’s because the city is racist. Forget about all the white players that have a bad time here, and forget about all the black players who have a wonderful time here (like dozens of celtics and patriots players, black guys, who could run for mayor in this town.

The bottom line is this: if you sign a monstrous contract and produce NOTHING, you will be an unpopular person. Ask John Lackey how he felt last year.

I went to college in Boston, and the things shouted at Jim Rice any time he made an out were pretty blatantly racist. I have talked to friends with more Boston history than I have, and they tell me that Bill Russell got the same treatment. But the city is not racist? OK, stick with that story if it makes you comfortable.

You’re talking 30,40 years ago. I’m talking today. I bet a LOT of cities were racist when bill Russell played.

nhstateline - Aug 23, 2013 at 5:05 PM

you should come back and visit sometime, it’s a very different place. Heck Jim Rice appears regularly on tv and people of all races watch. Why there’s even a separate audio feed for people who speak Spanish wonder of wonders and MA even has an African-American Governor. I wouldn’t think that most American cities are what they were back in the 50’s-70’s. Maybe it’s time to give up on the old stereotype of the past (as a native Bostonian I always ask: “racist compared to where exactly ?” when people continue to make stereotypes out of a very complicated past).

18thstreet - Aug 23, 2013 at 3:25 PM

And let me just add — I’m pretty sure Carl Crawford never said the fans treated him badly because he’s black. He certainly didn’t in the article that’s linked to here.

But we all assume that’s what he’s talking about because everyone knows Boston is a racist city.

And also because Crawford has said in the past that people shouted racist things at him during his rehab assignments and I believe has alluded to his race being a factor in how he’d been treated in the city itself.

I didn’t even know “Monday” was a slur for black people until that.

18thstreet - Aug 24, 2013 at 8:23 AM

So you learned something about the word “Monday.”

But did he say anything about race in this interview?

nhstateline - Aug 23, 2013 at 8:46 PM

another one. buy a plane ticket and spend some time in Boston. Serious time. See what you think after that. I didn’t know what was yelled at Crawford in Manchester, NH by a guy who was a cop in Fitchburg, MA (neither one of which is Boston to be clear and I spend a decent amount of time in Manchester, don’t think it has much of a race problem), was a racial slur until that incident. But that was one idiot out of a population of six or so million people. You’re on really sound ground drawing conclusions from that.

18thstreet - Aug 24, 2013 at 10:39 AM

Not like I was born and raised in Boston and its suburbs or majored in American history. I really don’t know anything about Boston at all.

pisano - Aug 23, 2013 at 2:30 PM

Hey Carl, get over it, when the team pays you 20 million+ per year and you hit .255 the fans and the organization are not going to be enamored with you. The funny thing is, Boston is completely over you, you don’t hear them slamming you like your slamming them, get a life, you didn’t live up to the money they threw away on you, and a guy like you can’t take the pressure of playing in Boston, God help you had you been playing in New York with that contract, someone would left you for dead in an alley.

Where, in the linked article, did Carl Crawford say he was treated badly because he’s black?

codyclement - Aug 23, 2013 at 3:03 PM

Reblogged this on THE QUARTERBACK and commented:
I suppose that when you play in Tampa, well to be honest St Petersburg, you get used to people not getting all over you for poor performance because only 100 (estimate) people show up for games. Well let me let you in on a secret Carl, Boston is a pretty big sports town and they expect players making tens of
millions of dollars to perform at a certain level. Perhaps had you done some research and not just signed the biggest contract offered you would have realized that. Saying that people expected you to go 5-for-5 is a little obnoxious, I would have settled for 2-for-5 given what you actually did. Oh and it helps if you can maybe stay healthy in play in at least a third of the games. That being said I am terrified that the Sox will get swept by the red hot Dodgers and blow the surprisingly good season they’ve had so far, but at least nobody is calling Carl Crawford a bum anymore. What? They still are? Oh my fault.